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Judge: Fatal crash driver unable to stand trial

Mesa County District Court Judge Thomas Deister ruled Tuesday that a woman who admitting killing another woman in a 2005 car crash is incompetent to stand trial.

Deister dismissed all criminal charges against Christy Buescher, 42.

Buescher, who has Huntington’s disease, pleaded guilty in 2006 to vehicular homicide and careless driving resulting in death and was sentenced to 10 years probation in connection with an August 2005 crash that killed 27-year-old Stanna Lindholm.

Buescher recently was charged with violating terms of her probation. Deister, however, made his ruling after receiving reports in which two doctors at Pueblo’s Colorado Mental Health Institute determined Buescher’s health is declining.

Huntington’s disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that causes the nerve cells in the brain to waste away. Doctors previously said Buescher probably will die within 10 years.

Buescher’s criminal charges are dismissed, but she may be subject to a civil lawsuit.

Police say Buescher was speeding Aug. 19, 2005, on Patterson Road when she ran a red light and collided with the vehicle Lindholm was driving. Lindholm died at the crash scene.

Lindholm, the mother of two sons, was a Mesa State College graduate and was preparing to student teach at Central High School.